Cement building-block.



F. E. PETERS.

CEMENT BUILDING BLOCK.

APPLICATION FILED JAN-28,1915.

Patented Sept. 21, 1915.

' 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

wveuto'o a/vitucsoca F. E. PETERS.

CEMENT BUILDING BLOCK.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 28, 1915.

Patented Sept. 21,

2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

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FRANK nLwoon rETERs, or INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, AssIGNoR or ONE-HALF T 7 J. I). EASTMAN, or INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA;

, CEMENT BUILDING-BLOCK.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, FRAN'K. E. PETERS, a

' citizenof the United 'States, residing at ing-Blocks; and I do declare the following -to be a full, clear, and exact description of Indianapolis, in the county of Marion and State of Indiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Cement Bulldblocks and has for its object to improve upon the general construction of devicesof this character to such an extent as to provide blocks which may be easily laid by unskilled laborers, and to construct" said blocks in such a manner as to allow the central "portions thereof to be filled with a binder ofliquid cement, after the blocks have been laid or piled in the necessary formation, means being also provided where'- A .by the completed wall or structure 'is'effectively ventilated, thereby preventing the blocks from becoming damp and sweating.

With this main'object in view, the invention resides in the adaptation of a number of. features of construction and combination hereinafter more fully described claimed andshown in the drawings wherem Figure 1 is a side elevation of a portion of a wall formed of blocks constructed in accordance with the invention; Fig, 2 is a top plan view of a number of the blocks disposed end to end, before the binder is poured into interstices with which the blocks are provided ;'Fig. 3 is a similar view after applying the binder; Fig. 4 is a central vertical longitudinal section as seen along the plane indicated by the line 4l of Fig. 2, showing more'particularly the'dispositionA of the various binder receiving openings and channels to be described; Fig. 5 is a similar view showing such openings and-channels partially filled with the binding material; Figs. 6 and 7 are longitudinal sections taken along7the planes indicated by the lines 6-'6 and 7 of Fig. 2, these views showing more particularly the disposition of the ventilating channels and openings; Figs. 8 and 9 are vertical transverse sections as seen respectively along the planesindicated by the lines 8-8 and 9-9 of Fig. 3-; Fig. 10

is a top plan view of one of the blocks;

Specification of Letters Patent.

and

' Patented seat. 2 1, 1915.

Application filed January 28, 1915-. Serial 11014 857.

Fig. 11 is a transverse section thereof as seen along the plane of line 11'.l1 of Fig. 10; Fig. 12 is a perspective view of a slightly modified form of construction; Fig. 13 is a top plan View of a block constructed in still another manner; and Fig. 14: is an irregular transverse section as seen along the plane of the line 1414 of Fig. 13.

In Figs. 1 to 11 inclusive of hese draw.-

ings, all of the blocks B are identical in construction, it being therefore necessary to describe'the specific details of but one.

As probably most clearly seen in Figs. 10 I and 11, the block B is of rectangular formation and is provided with two flat end walls 1 which are-free from projections, both of the horizontal faces of the block, or inother words, the top and bottom thereof, being provided with a central longitudinally ex tending binder receiving channel 2, these channels being here shown of semi-circular formation in transverse section. Disposed one oneach side of the channel 2, is a plurality of longitudinal ventilating channels 3, it being therefore seen that two of such channels are disposed in the top of, the block while two more thereof are formed in the bottom of said block.

drawings, the two longitudinal binder receiving channels 2 areconnected by an appropriate number of upright binder receiving openings 4, three of such openings being here shown as of elliptical formation and of considerably less diameter than. the width of the channels 2. This feature is rather important, in order that the various blocks, whenassembled, may be efiectively bound together by pouring a binder 1), preferably cement, into the various channels 2 and As shown in the various figures of the c openings 4. By this means, a solid wall of cement is .provided at the center of the walls constructed of the blocks B, as most clearly disclosed in Pig. 5. If desired, a

number of upright reinforcing rods B may be embedded in this binder as likewise clearly disclosed in this figure.

It is a well'known fact thht ivalls constructed of cement are apt to gather a great amount of dampness, this accumulated moisturecausing the walls to sweat. It has been found, however, that if such walls are ventilated to the proper extent,'such sweating and absorption of moisture will not take place. The invention therefore aims to pro- .vide the blocks with a plurality of what may well be termed interstices, for affording insulating air spaces on both the inner and the outer sides of the solid central wall before described. To this end, the block B is provided with the horizontalventilating chan nels 3 above mentioned, and in addition to' these channels,'with two inner longitudinal series of ventilating slots 10, these slots connecting the inner walls of the uppermost Channels 3-with those in the lower side of the block, while outervertically extending slots 11 connect the outer side walls of the upper and lower channels 3, the slots 10 being dis posed in staggered and overlapped relation in respect to the slots 11, thereby providing only narrow necks 12 which connect the outer portions of the blocks with the inner portions thereof. It follows that it is practicallyimpossible for any moisture to permeate through these necks since they are of such proportion as to allow the air within the slots 10 and 11 and in the channels 3, to

retain them in a dry condition at all times.

In addition to the features sofar described, each flat end 1 of the block is provided with an upright binder receiving groove 20, these grooves connecting the op posite ends of the two channels 2 as clearly disclosed in the various figures of the draw ings, and being of a width and depth equal to the width and depth of said channels 2. Furthermore, the ends 1 are provided with upright ventilating grooves 21 which con- 7 that such a wall will have no tendency to become damp or to sweat, this being due to, the specific positioning of the various ventilat ing channels, openings and grooves, it being readily understood by an inspection of the various figures of the drawings, that when the blocks are piled upon each other as shown, for instance in Figs. 1, 6 and 7, the ventilating grooves in the lower sides of the blocks will register with those in the upper sides of the blocks upon which they rest, thus providing continuous air passages 'P seen more particularly in Figs. 7, 8 and 9,

these passages being in turn connected by the numerous upright ventilating slots and grooves 21.

Among the marked advantages derived from a block constructed in the manner above set forth, is the fact that they may well'be laid by unskilled laborers, it being simply necessary to pile them as seen in Fig. 1, thus disposing their various upright the exception that one of the horizontal faces 1 F of said block is provided with-no ventilat ing or binder receiving channels. Itwill be understood that this form of the invention is adapted to be applied to use in the manner above set forth in connection with the other form thereof.

In Figs. 13 and 14, the block B is shown as constructed in the manner preferably employed when it is used for building silos. This type of block is provided with a single longitudinally extending binder receiving channel 30 in its upper face at one of the side portions thereof, with a plurality of upright binder receiving openings 31 which are of lessdiameter than the width of the channel 30 and which lead therefrom to the opposite fiat side of the block. At each end of the channel 30, an upright binder receiving groove 32 is provided, these grooves corre sponding to the grooves 20 above described, while spaced to one side thereof and lying parallel therewith, a longitudinal ventilating channel 35 is formed in the upper face of the block, a plurality of ventilating slots 36 and two ventilating grooves 37 beinghere shown as leading from said channel 35 to the opposite flat face of the block. In the present case, as in the form of the invention first described as well as that form shown in Fig. 12, the slots 36 are disposed in staggered overlapped relation to provide necks similar to those designated by the numeral 12, and the grooves 37, corresponding to the,

grooves 21, are formed in the fiat end walls of the block, at the opposite ends of the ventilating channel therein. Needless to say,

the various blocks B are piled upon each other in substantially the manner seen in Fig. 1, when constructing a silo, for which purpose these blocks are preferably curved throughout their length as disclosed in Fig. 13.

-From the foregoing and on reference to the drawings it will be observed that my new construction of block permits the erection of a wall for dwellings, silos or other structures composed of a continuous monolithic portion which serves to unite all of the blocks and give the wall the desired transmission of heat or cold from one ex",

terior surface to the other is reduced to the minimum. The most essential feature of the construction just referred to resides in making the longitudinal ventilating channels 3 relatively deep and of sufficient width to intersect the vertical ventilating channels 1011 of the two parallel series of such channels, in connection with the overlapping staggeredrelation of said channels 10-11 whereby neck portions 12 of relatively small cross sectional area form the only means of connection between the surface portion of the wall and the monolithic portion. It will be seen from the drawings that these neck portions 12 extend in a substantially longitudinal direction when the block is viewed in plan and are surrounded by a ventilating space composed of relatively large horizontal and vertically extending passages formed by the channels 3 and slots 1011, so that any moisture or frost in said neck portions willbe'quickly dried by the drafts of air which freely circulate through the hollow portion of. the wall. Another commercial advantage resulting from my construction resides in the fact that the blocks may be laid and poured by unskilled persons since they are not laid up, in cement, an operation requiring the services of a skilled person. Furthermore there is no cement or mortar placed between the edges of the i blocks and consequently the entire'inner surface as well as the entire outer surface of the wall shown in Fig. 8 will be uniform, that is will consist of the same material,

with the result that a very thin layer of' plastic finishing material can be applied and it will be uniform in color whereas in a wall v in which the blocks are'laid up in cement a much thicker layer of the plastic finishing material must be used to prevent the cement joints showing through.

I claim 1. .A wall including a monolithic portion and a hollow portion, and composed of similar rectangular-shaped concrete blocks'arranged to break joints in superimposed layers, each block having on its surface a wide continuous bond-receiving groove extending over one horizontal face and both ends and communicating with a longitudinal extending row of vertical openings, the latter being of less width than the groove and both receiving poured cement Which forms the monolithic portion, said hollow portion of the Wall being formed by providing in eachblock two parallel series of verticallydisposed, longitudinally-elongated slots ar ranged in staggered and overlapped relation and also by forming in one or more horizontal faces of the block a deep longitudinal channel of a width to intersect the slots of both rows, whereby the two portions of the wall will be connected by necks of relatively small cross sectional area extending in a substantially longitudinal direction when the block is viewed in plan.

2. A concrete building block of rectangular formation having on both ends and one horizontal face a relatively-wide, continuous,

binder-receiving groove, a longitudinal row end of the block in its upper horizontal face and the slots in the two rows being arranged in staggered and overlapping relation to provide between them a plurality of connecting necks of relatively small cross sectional area extending in alongitudinal direction when the block is viewed in plan. In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

E. M. MoAnAMs,

BERTHA EGGERT. 

